I'm Already There
by MoronicShrew
Summary: A prequel(by request) to "Why? Who? When? Where?"; a sequel to "The Difference Between The Two"...for those who are interested, read up.


Disclaimer: You guys know the drill...I don't own anything except Becky and anything else in here that you didn't recognize from the movie/book.   
  
A/N: Ok...I had both requests; a story before "Why? Who? When? Where?", and a story after. So, I'll do both. This is going to start..well, you'll see that. When this story is finished, I'll post the one that takes place after. Thanks to everyone who reviewed W?x4 and requested this, because without it, I'd have nothing to do. :) Happy reading. Oh, and this is in Rafe's POV.  
  
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June 15, 1942  
  
I paced nervously around my small bedroom, trying to get my tie on straight. Tonight, I nodded. I would do it tonight. "Do what?" you're probably asking. Hehe, well, you'll see that in time. Taking one more reassuring look at myself in the mirror, I walked out of the room and down the stairs. My father was sitting on the couch, the novel he had been reading in his hands. "Has Evelyn come down yet, Daddy?" I asked, nervously. My father looked up, his brown eyes that were very much like my own peeking through the thin rimmed glasses. "No, son. She's still up stairs, I reckon." I sighed and nodded, walking in to the kitchen.   
  
I placed my hands on the counter and sighed, while the thunder rumbled outside. Great night I picked, huh? For some reason, I suddenly thought of my mother. She had left when I was about 6 to go and pursue her "Hollywood" career. She still writes me letters with no return address every now and then, but I haven't seen her since then. I don't know where she is, or how her "career" did. I haven't seen her in any picture shows yet, but that doesn't mean anything. I ain't mad at her, either. I can kind of understand where she's coming from. She married my daddy when she was still only 17, and had me when she was 18. She was only a small town kid with big dreams. I smirked. Who did that remind me of other than myself and a dusty brown eyed boy I used to know? My smirk quickly changed into a wince. Used to know? Well, I still *know* him. He's just...not around? I looked down at my hands and shook my head. It had only been a month and a half, yet it seemed like an entire lifetime without him here. Danny, that is. It wasn't fair. I was supposed to be the one to go, not him. I didn't have anything to come back to. Well, maybe my Daddy. But he had his whole life...a child and a woman who loved him. He had a shot at being a better father to his child than his father was to him. I realize that I've kind of taken his place with the woman he loved...but that child will never be mine. As much as it calls me Daddy, and as much as I lie to it and call it mine, it won't. It will only be his, and no one else's. I can't change that, and I'm not quite sure that I ever would, even if I could.   
  
I heard someone clear their throat and turned around. There she was. The most beautiful woman on the face of the Earth; the only woman in my life I would ever love. Besides the fact that her 7 and a half month pregnancy was showing on her, she looked beautiful in the simple black dress she was wearing. "Hey, Ev." She smiled. "Ready to go?" I smiled and nodded, walking over to her. "We're leaving now, Daddy." I said, grabbing a jacket off of the caot rack to put over her head. It was pouring out. "Curfew's still 9 o'clock, Rafe." My father said, not looking up from his book. I gave him a questioning look. "Excuse me, Sir?" My father looked up at me and grinned. "Aww, go out. Have fun." I smiled and nodded, opening the door for Evelyn and placing the jacket over her head. "Let's go."   
  
I smiled at Evelyn while she quietly sipped her Coca Cola through the white straw. We were at Shelbyville's make shift Swing Club...hey, it's the best I could do, alright? Unless, ofcourse, she would have wanted to go cow tipping, which I don't think she did. I noticed a couple of couples get up and start swing dancing when the music got faster. I grinned. I didn't know people in Shelbyville knew how to Swing dance. But, hey. I knew. But that's different, I think. I'm in the Military. I'm required to know how to Swing dance, if I'm going to get along with my Squadron. "You know what, Ev?" She looked up from the bottle and focused on me. "What?" I smiled and leaned in closer. "After you have the baby and I can come home for good, I am going to take you up to a good Swing clubin New York, and I'm going to teach you how to Swing dance." She laughed. "Right, Rafe." I nodded. "I am." She laughed again. "You can try, though I make no guarantees." I laughed. "I will do it. I'm Captain Rafe McCawley, U.S. Air Corps. I do whatever I want." She laughed and threw a piece of her napkin at me. "Easy, Fly Boy. You still haven't taken me on my boat trip." My grin faded into a defeated 'duh' face. "Well, I'll do that." She raised an eyebrow. "When?" "I don't know. But you're going to Swing dance first." She laughed, yet again. "Fine, Rafe. Teach me how to Swing dance." I smiled and stood up, offering her a hand. "Let's get out of here." She sat her Coke bottle down and followed me.  
  
Evelyn laid her head on my shoulder as we sat under the covered bus stop, listening to the rain and thunder. "Do you miss him?" Evelyn asked me. I knew who she was talking about; there was no other 'him' to miss. She raised her head, and I looked her in the eye. Slowly, I nodded. She nodded, too. "I do, too. More than you know." I grinned a little and rubbed her shoulder. "Trust me, I know." She kind of laughed. "That's what threw us together in the first place. You were dead, and we both had literally lost a piece of ourselves." I nodded. "I figured that one out. But think of it as the same thing, this time around," She gave me an odd look. "Just different men." She grinned a small grin and looked up at the sky. "I wish I would have told him myself." "About what?" I was still rubbing her arm, lightly. "About his son." I focused my gaze on her again. "Son?" She looked at me and grinned. "Gut instinct." I smiled a little. I loved this woman. "Yeah, he would've made a great father. He told me one time when we were like, 16...I was dead drunk, but that's the one part of that night I remember. He looked at me and told me that he would never get drunk, because he didn't want to grow up and beat his wife and kids like his daddy. He was going to be a better man then that," I followed Evelyn's gaze to the sky and grinned. "And he would've." She smiled a little, and fell into my arms. "Rafe, I've asked you this before, but I want an answer this time. Anything, just so it will make me feel better." I rubbed her forehead. "What is it, honey?" She sighed. "What's to become of us all?" I sighed and grinned. How did she always give me these perfect opportunities? "Well, I'm going to answer that question with a question." She gave me an odd look. "What?" I stared straight in to her hazel eyes; there was nothing on the universe except the 2 of us. Maybe not even me, just her. Go on, you chicken. Just do it. You're Captain Rafe McCawley, United States Air Corps. You can do what you want to, remember? I nodded, to myself. "Will you marry me?" Her emotionless face sprang the biggest smile I had ever seen, and she wrapped her arms around my neck so hard I started to choke. I'll take that as a yes.   
  
  
  
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A/N: Hehe...yay. 1 down, however-many-til-I-finish to go. I don't remember the book ever saying anything about his mother, so I made that up. If the book did say something about his mother, well..um..we'll pretend. lol. This is the first time I've ever written in the POV of a guy, and I'm obviously not a guy so if it kinda screwed at times, please understand. lol. Ok, buhbye! oh, yeah...Rafe is on a "vacation" type thing(dunno what they call those in the military) basically he's on a leave so he could come home and bury his friend and mourn and stuff...hell, I don't even know if you're allowed to have those, but in this story you are. and Evelyn is retired(retirement at age 21/22...that's sick.) from the military so that she can take care of the kid...duh. and you're probably sick of reading this, so i'm really going this time. 


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